Have you encountered VHS or Cassette piracy in the 80s? (piefed.social)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Shadow79@piefed.social to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Like that infamous "ET" torrent in 1982 where it involved a "pirate" sneaking a huge JVC camcorder (with a VHS reel) recording the entire movie in theaters, given this was before DVD's existed (don't even ask about pirate bay, those weren't available yet). The same applies to "torrented" music, one would have a spare tape cassette recording the song played via the radio, that's how they torrented content back then if they can't afford an official copy.

Only millennials or Gen X who were kids back then would've encountered or witnessed VHS or Cassette "torrents" from either friends or family and often or not, piracy in the pre internet days was rife even before torrent sites were a thing. There are VHS "torrents" of TV shows or series (placing a camcorder which faces the TV screen with a spare reel recording the entire show (ads included), then used to fast forward upon replay.

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[-] myrrh@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

...mid-eighties we found a copy of the kentucky-fried movie at the local video shop to rent for a friend's twelfth birthday party, essentially on the reputation of airplane! as none of us had seen zucker-abrahams-zucker's first film, only heard mention via word-of-mouth...

...so we start the movie, big bowl of popcorn amongst us in front of the television with his mom and little sisters hovering back on the couch, and it's strikingly raunchier than their better-known second film but as twelve-year-old boys we're having a great time: then it quick-cuts to a woman sudsing-up her prodigious endowment under the shower, our eyes widen, and my friend's mother decides that's quite enough, stops the tape, and i've never since finished the film!..

this post was submitted on 23 May 2026

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